


7 steps to successful novel writing

by Signe_chan



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-24
Updated: 2013-02-24
Packaged: 2017-12-03 12:53:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/698452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Signe_chan/pseuds/Signe_chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam moves away from his brother to write his second novel without distractions. Instead, he finds a new kind of distraction entirely.</p>
            </blockquote>





	7 steps to successful novel writing

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 'Dear Sabriel' Challenge on LJ for kimisgirl. Answers the prompts -   
> 2) Gabriel is a candy maker, Sam really loves his candy, AU  
> 3) Sam is a shy and reclusive author, Gabriel is his eccentric and nosey neighbour. Love follows

1\. The introduction

“I just don’t see why you have to move,” Dean said, dropping the box he was carrying on the floor. Sam winced. He’d made sure to carry the kitchen things and his laptop in himself and nothing was really breakable but Dean wouldn’t have cared anyway. Sam had heard the complaint so many times now. He kind of wished he’d hired the moving company after all but Dean had complained that Sam was going to leave him all alone and how could Sam deny him this last chance to go somewhere together.

That, in a nutshell, was why he’d had to go. He couldn’t tell Dean that though. Normally he didn’t mind the codependent thing. He hadn’t minded when Dean followed him to college, taking a job and sharing a flat and effectively scaring of every boyfriend he’d had by being a bit creepy and hitting on them. He hadn’t minded when Dean traipsed around the country after him when he worked in law or came on the signing tour when his book actually got published. Well, he’d minded, but not enough to complain. As much as Dean needed him, he kind of needed Dean too, most of the time.

Problem was, this wasn’t one of those times. The first book had been easily. It had practically fallen out of his brain fully formed. The publisher had handed him a three book deal and he’d been over the moon. But now, now they were asking for the second book and Sam had nothing.

Dean was great, but he was a distraction. Hard enough to write with Dean popping in and dragging him out when he was focused, when he was frustrated at the lack of progress and complete absence of inspiration from his life, well, let’s just say he’d spent more time over the last few months hanging out with Dean then he had writing and now he was in trouble.

Enough trouble that he’d decided to move away until the novel was written.

The flat belonged to Dean’s best friend Cas. A best friend who Dean currently wasn’t talking to because he’d let Sam have the flat. He normally rented it out for tourists but nobody really wanted to go to the beach at winter. It was small and impersonal, just what Sam needed.

“I just need to finish this book,” he replied finally. Dean huffed, but Dean had been huffing for the entire drive down. “I’ll move back as soon as I have.”

“You wrote the last one at home.”

“Last one was easy,” Sam grumbled.

“What’s the problem with this one then?” Dean asked, but Sam just grunted and headed past him, heading back out of the flat and along the hallway to the stairs. There were three flats per floor with balconies on the front. Sam had already decided it was probably rude but it was best that he didn’t go introduce himself to the neighbors. The last thing he needed to do was replace Dean with a string of well-meaning neighbors.

There were two more boxes in the trunk but he couldn’t manage them both. He’d tried to pack light but then he’d had a last minute panic. There was no internet here so he’d started to worry about research and somehow he’d ended up with boxes and boxes of books.

Dean had looked at them in disgust but Dean was the problem here to start with.

He passed Dean on the way back up, ignoring his brother’s grumbling about temperamental writers. He didn’t care. He enjoyed writing. Well, he used to enjoy writing. Used to love picking up a pen and making a world come alive. He just wished this book was as easy as the last book.

Still, soon he’d have nothing to do but write so then the book would have to come.

His plan was crushed almost immediately when he got back to his floor and found the door to the middle flat open. Cas had warned him about the neighbors in a way. He’d said that if Sam didn’t want to be distracted he should be sure to keep himself to himself. Sam had visions of dinner parties and social events and he knew it would all be a waste if he let that happen.

For a minutes he considered just going away and hiding until the door closed but, no, he was just being paranoid. That was all. It wasn’t like his neighbors would be lurking behind the door just to jump out on him. Nobody was that sad. He just needed to walk fast. Maybe whoever it was would think he was a bit rude but if they thought he was a bit rude they might leave him alone.

He walked quickly down the hall. He didn’t glance sideways as he passed the door. It was ridiculous. The neighbors wouldn’t be lurking in his hall waiting.

“Hey,” someone shouted, and Sam stopped without thinking, spinning to look. A guy was leaning out of the next door flat. He was older than Sam, but he didn’t look like the diner party type which was vaguely reassuring. He stepped out into the hallway and Sam turned to face him, then paused to set his box down.

“Hi,” he said, straightening up again. “I’m Sam.”

“Gabriel,” the other man said, stepping closer to shake Sam’s hand. He was pretty good looking, really. Not that Sam was noticing. He didn’t have time for a ridiculous holiday romance. Though at least Dean wouldn’t be around to insert himself between them this time. But no, he was here to write. “It’s a bit out of season for tourists, I was wondering what kind of person wanted to be out here at this time of year.”

“Oh, I’m a writer,” Sam said, blushing a little. People tended to make presumptions about you when you were a writer. Mostly that you were terribly educated, successful or intelligent. Sam was moderately successful. He’d written a book that had made money but wasn’t a best seller and he didn’t consider himself particularly important because he got paid to make things up. He carried on talking before Gabriel could ask anything. “A friend owns the flat, I just need somewhere quiet to write.”

“You’re a friend of Cas’?” Gabriel asked, grinning. “Seriously? I didn’t know the squirt had friends. Didn’t he tell you about me? I’m his brother.”

“Seriously?” Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. He couldn’t see it physically, they just didn’t look like brothers. Castiel had never mentioned it either. Gabriel had to be making fun of him.

“Seriously. Well, half brothers. We have the same dad, don’t really talk much since he moved inland but we are brothers. I think I’m a bit insulted that he didn’t at least mention me.”

“Well, Cas isn’t really close to me. It’s my brother he’s really friends with. Maybe he mentioned you to him?”

“Maybe,” Gabriel said, reaching out to pat Sam’s arm reassuringly. “Well, welcome! You’ll have to let me drag you out around town sometime, show you the night life.”

“Thanks but...” Sam replied, letting himself trail off. He didn’t want to offend but he also did want to be distracted.

“Don’t tell me you’re one of those ridiculous recluse writers?” Gabriel asked, eyebrow raised, and Sam couldn't help but notice that the other man still had his hand on his arm.

“I’ve got a deadline,” Sam said with a smile. “I’m really sorry, but it’s pretty important. I’m going to be busy writing most of the time.”

“Alright,” Gabriel said with a shrug, dropping his hand. He looked a bit annoyed and Sam had to fight the urge to take it all back. If he was going to go along with the first pretty face he met then he might as well not be doing this at all. He had a novel to write and that had to come first. “Maybe I’ll see you around?”

“Probably,” Sam agreed, returning the smile.

 

2\. The idea

Turned out, locking himself away wasn’t enough to write a novel. Sam was starting to give serious thought to just quitting by the end of week one. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to write. It was just that he didn’t know what to write. He’d started a dozen first drafts but none of them had stuck.

The problem with a second book was expectation. The first book, nobody expected anything from him. He was a complete unknown so he couldn’t disappoint them. The worst that could have happened, really, was for him to have never found a publisher. This book was different, this time he had fans. They wrote to him, which still freaked him out a little though he took time to read all of their letters. He’d met a few of them on his signing tour. There were websites about his work. The biggest one run by a girl called Becky who’d pretty blatantly asked to sleep with him when he’d met her on tour.

So he couldn’t just write what he wanted, he had to write what was good. Not for the fame, he could take or leave that, but for people like Becky, however creepy she was. People who believed in him.

Dean phoned at least once a day. Sam had lied to him, he’d said the novel was going well. Dean had still seemed a little put out by the forced separation but at least he’d acknowledged that if sam was getting work done it was probably for the best. It made Sam feel like such a fraud.

It was at the end of week one, on his seventh day of Castiel’s bland little apartment, that Gabriel showed up on the doorstep. It didn’t even occur to Sam that he should be annoyed that he’d told Gabriel he needed to be alone, he was so sick of staring at a blank word document.

“Hey, good to see you again,” Sam said, leading Gabriel in. Gabriel went happily, swinging the bag in his hand.

“Hope you don’t mind me stopping by,” he said, stepping through the door at the end of the hall into the living room. “I just thought I never really welcomed you to the neighborhood so I brought you some chinese food to make up for it.”

“Thanks,” Sam said, eyeing the bag suspiciously. It seemed a strange thing to do, buying chinese for a guy you didn’t even know, but Gabriel didn’t even seem to have thought of that. Instead he just made himself at home, grabbing some plates from the cupboard after a little exploring to find where Sam had stashed them.

“How do you even know I like chinese?” Sam asked, taking a seat at the small table. Everything was small in the flat, it was starting to get to him.

“Everyone likes chinese,” Gabriel told him, setting a plate down in front of him. “Or, well, everyone who counts. Like everyone likes sweets. Here, I got a fried rice, some chicken sweet and sour, egg rolls and seaweed, nobody could protest to that...unless they were a vegetarian I guess but I’ve seen meat wrappers in your rubbish.”

“That’s kind of creepy,” Sam said, though he accepted the rice when it was pushed towards him. It did smell wonderful. He hadn’t given himself time to explore the area further than the nearest store so he’d mostly been living of ready meals. Not that takeout chinese was a big step up, but at least it was warm and filling.

“Not really, there’s only like three people here at the moment, the rest of them are summer people. And Mrs Duncan won’t mix her trash in with other people’s,she’s a bit weird. That meant the stuff in the bin had to be yours.”

“And do you always go through the bins?”

“Only when I have an exciting new neighbour to spy on,” Gabriel said with a wink.

“Also disturbing. Have you been analysing my eating habits all week to pick out this meal?” he teased. Gabriel grinned back at him.

“Nah, I have to admit this is a bit of an impulse meal. I was walking back from work and looking forward to a boring evening alone in my apartment when I smelt the chinese and thought you might appreciate a change. Do you like the chinese?”

“Yeah,” Sam admitted, helping himself to another egg roll. “You’ll have to give me the number of the place. I’ve been eating ready meals, this is a nice change.”

“What, can’t you cook?” Gabriel asked, looking over at the cramped kitchen area. Sam sighed.

“Not really. Or not well, at least. I’ve tried to learn a few times but my home cooking normally turns out inedible. My brother, actually, is kind of passable at it. Though he’ll only ever cook cheeseburgers or pie.”

“You’ll have to let me cook for you some time,” Gabriel said, his voice low. And that was interesting, almost flirting. Sam pushed the thought to the back of his head. He didn’t have time for this right now.

“I don’t want to be a bother.”

“You won’t be,” Gabriel replied cheerfully. “Cooking’s my hobby and I’m always looking for new volunteers to share it with. I’m only in on mornings on Monday so that’d be a good day to try it out.”

“Sure,” Sam said, because as much as he needed to focus the thought of home-cooked food was winning him over. It really wasn’t something he’d had often, not good home cooked food, and if Gabriel was offering.

“Great. I can make you desert too. I make no guarantees about the dinner but I make a mean desert. Comes with the territory.”

“The territory?”

“Haven’t I told you, I’m a sweet maker. Got a little shop in town. Well, got as in I part own. It’s pretty awesome, really, though I suppose you haven’t got out much. I’ll bring you some sweets tomorrow.”

“You really don't have to,” Sam replied, blushing.

“Of course I do,” Gabriel said flippantly. “It’s the least I can do for an aspiring artist. And watching you taste them will give me some ideas about what kind of things to try for our dinner on Monday. It’ll be educational.”

“If you say so,” Sam replied, unconvinced. Gabriel grinned as if Sam had just promised him millions instead of promising to eat a few chocolates and he was starting to wonder what he’d let himself in for.

“So,” Gabriel said, apparently ready to move the conversation on from his eating habits. “How’s the book going?” Straight into the conversation Sam wanted to have least. He couldn’t help but groan and put his head in his hand. He didn’t even want to think about the flashing cursor.

“That good?” Gabriel commented, poking at his elbow. “You got anything at all?”

“Nothing,” Sam admitted. The chinese suddenly felt heavy on his stomach. How could he sit here eating egg rolls when he didn’t even have a plot.

“Plot?” Gabriel asked, poking again. “Characters?”

“Nothing,” Sam said, slower this time. Clearer. He wished Gabriel would just go and leave him alone. He was a fraud, that much was clear to all of them by now. He was never going to write this second book and his publishers would hate him forever.

“Right, let’s start from the start then,” Gabriel said, pulling his chair closer, the food abandoned for now. “Tell me what your first novel was about.”

“My dad,” Sam replied quickly. The first novel was easy. “See, he died when I was pretty young and my and Dean got raised by a family friend. It wasn’t autobiography or something but it was about this guy, and the ghost of his dad comes back when he’s trying to grow up. It’s all kind of stupid but...it was about me and him and what I’d wished he’d be and what I had to come to terms with never having.”

“So, a ghost story about your dad,” Gabriel said, thoughtfully. “You going to stick with horror then?”

“I don’t know,” Sam moaned, letting his head drop on the table. It was a little overly dramatic but he was feeling dramatic right now. “I feel like, I don’t know, I should be more serious. Write literature or something?”

“Do you read high literature?”

“Sometimes...” Sam trailed of. Reading literature was always something he felt like he should do. He had the books, of course. Great classics lined up there on his shelf, but in the end he would default back to the horror section in the bookshop or his well thumbed Grisham or King.

“You know, when people say write what you know, I always thought they meant write the books you know,” Gabriel commented, and Sam turned to look at him. “I mean, a lot of people say it means write your experiences but that’s dull. Nobody wants to read about your daily routine, or that time you got so drunk you stole you sisters underwear and convinced your best friend to wear them. Well, maybe some people might like to read the last story but my point was it’s not experience, it’s emotion and books you know. You know horror books, write a damn horror book. You know what it’s like to miss a father, write about missing your father.”

“I already wrote about that,” Sam said in what he thought was his reasonable tone. Gabriel snorted.

“Yeah, and it worked. So write about it in a different way. I mean, alright, who’s the most important person in your life.”

“My brother,” Sam answered without hesitation. Gabriel nodded.

“No problem, write about your brother. We want horror so maybe these brothers hunt ghosts, or something. And maybe they lose their dad on a hunt, and they have to deal with picking up their dad’s job that they never wanted while coping with his death.”

“That’s...that’s actually a good idea,” Sam replied, sitting up. He rolled it over in his head. Yeah, he could work this. It wouldn’t be about the dad, not really, it would be about the brothers. About their relying on each other like he and Dean did. If there was one thing he knew about it was weird brother relationships.

“Glad I could help,” Gabriel said, but Sam wasn’t really paying attention any more. He booted up his laptop and started to type and barely noticed when Gabriel left.

 

3\. 1% inspiration

Sam only bothered to answer his door because he happened to be stood up anyway getting a glass of water. Even then he contemplated just sitting down and carrying on. In addition to the computer, he’d now covered the desk and the kitchen table in notes. Scene ideas and character sketches and a plot overview. He was almost ready to start actually writing and he hadn’t really stopped other than to sleep since Gabriel had dumped the idea on his lap and left him.

Still, as much as he’d like to carry on writing he suspected he knew who was outside the door and it was rude to ignore a person in favour of the idea they’d given you.

“Hey, Sam,” Gabriel said, holding out a chocolate box. “As promised, chocolates for you.”

“Thanks,” Sam said with a smile, taking the box. If nothing else they’d give him the energy to carry on writing into the evening, which was what he really needed right now.

“Can I come in?” Gabriel asked, quirking an eyebrow. Sam almost considered saying no but the guy had brought him chocolate and give him the idea for the story. Inviting him in was probably the least he could do.

“I guess,” he said, stepping aside. “I might not be very good company right now, though. I kind of have writer brain.”

“Writer brain?”

“Yeah,” Sam said, following Gabriel through into the living room. “It’s just what it calls it when my head is so full of the story and the characters that I kind of temporarily forget how to function as a normal human being.”

“I can see that,”Gabriel said, looking around the mess that was the living area. “Is it safe to sit or might I damage something?”

“It should be safe to sit,” Sam said, looking around. “Just...don’t move any piles of paper. Leave them where they are and everything should be alright. I mean, I know it looks like complete chaos in here but it is organised, I swear.”

“I believe you,” Gabriel said, grinning. “Though I must admit there’s a certain temptation to mess it all up.”

“Please don’t,” Sam said with a sigh, sitting down across the table. Gabriel just smirked but he kept his hands to himself for now so that was something.

“Are we still good to eat on Monday?” Gabriel asked. Sam nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll be more than ready to take a night of by then, trust me.”

“I thought you came here for uninterrupted writing time?” Gabriel asked, Sam just kicked at him under the table. It was weird, talking to him. Oddly relaxed. He enjoyed it, and it was weird because as a general rule he wasn’t great with strangers. Not terrible with them, not by any means, but not great either. He tended to have really odd conversations and feel really on edge with them all the time. Gabriel wasn’t like that. It was like something between them just worked and for some reason he was easy to be with.

If only Sam didn’t have a book to write.

“You did all this since last night?” Gabriel asked, gesturing at the table. Sam shrugged. This was the easy part. Ideas felt like they were tripping over themselves to come to him. Anyone could write for this part. The interesting part was going to be in a few days when this started dying down and he had to take all of this and structure it then write it.

“It’s all your idea,” he admitted. “I really like it. I think I’m going to have to thank you in the dedications or something.”

“That’ll be cool,” Gabriel said, tipping his chair back in a way that looked dangerous. “I’ve never had a book dedicated to be before. An ode or two but never very good ones. Maybe I should actually read your first book? What was it called?”

“I’d rather you didn’t read it,” Sam said, flushing. “It’s not...it’s not anything that brilliant.”

“I’m hardly expecting it to be War and Peace,” Gabriel said with a grin. “Tell me or I’ll phone Cas up and get him to tell me.”

“He wouldn’t,” Sam replied, though he suspected that he would. Gabriel just raised an eyebrow and Sam sighed.

“Fine. It’s called Dead man’s blood. Don’t expect too much, though.”

“It’s alright, kid. I won’t. Now, are you going to eat some chocolates for me?”

4\. Research

“Do you know anything about Wendigos?”

Gabriel looked up at him and blinked. Clearly Sam had interrupted him in the middle of cooking, which made sense because it was Monday afternoon. Maybe he shouldn’t have launched into his question as soon as Gabriel had opened the door, but he hadn’t been able to find more than a vague reference in his books and he needed to check if what he remembered about them was right.

“Nothing at all, I’m afraid,” Gabriel replied with a shrug. “Want to borrow my internet password so you can look stuff up? I don’t mind sharing.”

“No thanks,” Sam replied, wrinkling his nose. “I mean, no offense but if I have internet on my laptop I’ll just browse random sites all day and not get anything done. Especially once I start losing momentum. Would you...would you mind if I just used your laptop to quickly look it up?”

“Nah, you’re welcome,” Gabriel said, stepping aside to let him in. The flat was an small as the one Sam was staying in, but different in every other way. It seemed as though Gabriel had bought every colour in the paint shop and then applied them randomly to his walls and furniture. Sam wondered if it was the kind of thing that made you ill after looking at it too long or if you adjusted. The tiny space was crammed full of book cases, a giant TV, a coffee table that served as a desk, bean bag chairs, the kitchen. A lot less formal than Cas’ desk and chair and table and chairs. More homely, too. Like someone actually lived here.

“Make yourself at home.” Gabriel said, stepping back to the kitchen area and gesturing at his laptop. “I need to check on dinner.”

“Sam nodded and did just that. Pulling the browser up and starting to search. He’d have thought it would be hard to focus with someone else moving around in such a small space. These things were really only intended for one person after all, and not a person with as much stuff as Gabriel seemed to have. It wasn’t invasive, though. It was nice, relaxed. The sounds of Gabriel moving about didn’t seem to distract him like he’d thought they would.

He didn’t even realise how much time had passed until Gabriel came to take the laptop from him and replace it with a bowl of soup, informing him it was time for dinner.

“I’m sorry,” Sam said, as much on instinct as anything. “I had no idea it would take that long.”

“No, it was good,” Gabriel replied, and he looked like he meant it.

The meal was delicious, and in the end it was midnight when Sam finally added his research notes on Wendigos to the growing chaos of his living room.

5\. 99% perspiration

The actual writing of the book took nearly three months, and it took two weeks of that for Gabriel and Sam to settle into a routine. Sam would have thought it was odd if he had much attention to give to it, the way Gabriel just seemed to give up everything to spend time with Sam. He guessed the poor guy must not have had a lot going for him before if he had this hole in his life that Sam had been able to fill.

Sam couldn’t complain, though. Gabriel came by most days, even if only for a few minutes. He generally brought food, which was only enabling Sam to hide out and do nothing but write but Sam wasn’t complaining if instead of takeout and ready meals his fridge was full of tupperware containers with home made meals and sweets. So many sweets, he started to go out jogging in the mornings before he sat down to write just to try and counterbalance Gabriel’s sweets. The chocolates he brought from the shop especially, they were glorious.

As time passed, Gabriel came round more but Sam never got tired of him, which was weird. The only other person who got away with invading his space like that was Dean and was was definitely a special case. He’d come in and make himself at home, sitting at the table and reading or appropriating Sam’s kitchen to cook for them. Then they’d move aside Sam’s notes and eat together.

Sometimes Sam would wake up in the morning still at his desk and find that Gabriel had been in, cleared around him and draped a blanket over him. Sometimes if Gabriel thought he looked too uncomfortable he’d wake him up and put him to bed, and Sam tried not to think about the desire he had to just reach out and pull the other man in with him.

Gabriel also took it as his personal duty to make sure Sam left his flat at least two evenings a week, though he enabled his staying hidden there the rest of the time. Sometimes they went out. A few times they’d wrapped up and walked along the beach. Once Sam had grabbed Gabriel’s hand to stop him slipping of a rock and somehow forgot to let go. Most of the time, though, they just went to Gabriel’s. They would curl up on the bean bag chair and watch a movie, normally a comedy that Gabriel would mock mercilessly.

It was nice, almost accidentally domestic and Sam wasn’t sure what he’d done right to deserve this but he wasn’t about to tempt fate by asking.

Sometimes, just sometimes, Gabriel would look at him and Sam would think that maybe Gabriel liked him as much as he was desperately trying not to like Gabriel. Maybe they could be together and maybe it would be worth it. Then he’d remind himself that Gabriel had never given any indication he was gay, never talked about ex partners at all though he’d laughed at Sam lamenting his problem with Dean cock-blocking him. He flirted with Sam, sure, but it was kind of easy and casual like everything with them and probably just a friend thing. And, besides, Sam has a book to finish and then a ride back home to South Dakota to arrange.

~*~*~*~

Gabriel opened the door in pyjamas and blinked groggily up at Sam. Sam couldn’t keep the grin of his face. He knew it was anti-social to come knocking at three in the morning, particularly when Gabriel had work in only a few hours, but he couldn’t contain his excitement and he’d wanted to share.

“I’m finished,” he declared, holding out a USB drive. “My first draft, it’s done!”

“Well done, Sammy,” Gabriel replied, blinking a few times then reaching out to snatch the USB drive from Sam’s hand. “I hope you don’t expect me to read it all now?”

“No,” Sam replied, shifting from foot to foot. “I know,I should have waited until morning but I was just so excited. I didn’t think I was ever going to finish it and, well, I don’t think I ever would have if it wasn’t for you help and I just wanted to see you and say thank you and...”

Sam couldn’t think of what else he wanted to say so he reached forward and pulled Gabriel into a hug instead. The other man went willingly, resting his head on Sam’s chest and relaxing in to Sam’s arms. It was nice, nicer than anything else Sam had done in a while and he let himself just experience it for a moment, breathing in to Gabriel’s hair and enjoying having him so close.

“I guess you’re not going to be around much longer then,” Gabriel said, and Sam frowned. He’d been trying very hard not to think of that.

“Yeah,” he admitted. “I’m going to have to go home I guess. My publisher is going to be near ecstatic to finally get it and I bet Dean doesn’t leave me alone for a month now I’m finally back.”

“You never know,” Gabriel said, making no move to leave Sam’s arms. “Maybe he’ll have moved on and got his own life now that he’s had to make do without you for a while.”

“You don’t know Dean,” Sam said with a laugh. “He’ll never do that. He’s...he raised me and I owe him so much for that, so I don’t mind really if he wants to be around me all the time. There could be worse things.”

“Yeah. But Sam, you deserve a life too...”

“I have one,” Sam said, stepping back a little. Gabriel looked up at him, then just sighed and stepped back himself, removing himself completely from Sam’s arms.

“Yeah, I’m sure you do kid. Go get some sleep. I’ll see you sometime tomorrow.”

Sam nodded and went back to his apartment. As he got ready for bed he couldn’t help but wonder what he’d just missed.

6\. Edit

Dean had been pretty damn excited to see him, which kind of went without saying but at the same time was good to know. They hugged like they hadn’t seen each other in years, not just a few months, then loaded the Impala.

Sam had been kind of surprised when Gabriel didn’t come out for the show, then kind of upset when he’d gone to knock on the other guy’s door and realized he was out. They’d been so close, he didn’t want to go without him but at the same time, Gabriel had a life of his own and if he wasn’t in today, that wasn’t Sam’s business. He wasn’t fooling himself that he was all that important to Gabriel, it would just have been nice.

He left a note under Gabriel’s door. It didn’t seem like enough.

He spent the car journey in silence, not willing to talk or think about Gabriel and what Gabriel had meant to him. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew he’d let himself become attached. He’d told himself not to, Gabriel wouldn’t be interested in someone like him, but apparently he was better at giving himself advice then taking it.

Dean was pretty quiet too, which worried Sam a little until they got home and he realized that in his absence Cas had all but moved in. He’d punched Dean on the shoulder for not saying anything and hugged Cas hello then gone to unpack.

Their house seemed ridiculously spacious now he was used to Gabriel’s tiny flat.

~*~*~*~

“I heard you made friends with my brother,” Castiel said that night at dinner. Sam grunted his agreement but didn’t reply beyond that. He was trying not to think about what he’d left behind. Having a conversation about it wouldn’t help.

“That’s quite impressive. Gabriel doesn’t tend to play well with others.”

“He was fine with me,” Sam said with a shrug. “Came round pretty much every day to check that I was eating and hadn’t died or anything.”

“Really?” Castiel asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Erm, yeah?” Sam asked, glancing as Dean. Dean shrugged as though he wasn’t sure where this was going either. “We were pretty close.”

“Very odd,” Castiel commented. “Gabriel, well, he doesn’t get close to people. I mean, he’s the kind of person who’s friends with everyone but had no one person in particular who is his good friend. Not since all the mess with my family. He really saw you every day?”

“Yeah. I just thought...I thought he was like that with everyone.”

“No, he tends to lose interest quite quickly. The last person he showed any interest in as far as I know was Balthazar. They were together for five years, I believe. They own a shop together, though after the break up Balthazar moved to Europe and Gabriel runs the shop alone...”

Sam took a moment to digest that. Gabriel didn’t get close to people, not like he thought. Not like he had with Sam. Sam didn’t doubt they’d been close, he just thought that Gabriel was the type who was everyone’s best friend. He had thought that not mentioning a past partner meant there wasn’t one, not that it was too recent and still hurt. He hadn’t even thought Gabriel was gay but now...

Gabriel had said Dean might have a life of his own, and here was Dean with Cas. He’d said Sam deserved that too. Did that mean...

He could be getting this all wrong. It was insane. He probably was reading entirely the wrong thing into this. He was still tired from writing and packing and traveling and missing Gabriel and maybe it was just wishful thinking but what if he was right. What if Gabriel maybe did want him as much as he wanted Gabriel? What if Gabriel had been trying to say that and all Sam had done was push him away and shut him down?

“Dean, I need to borrow your car,” he said, standing up.

“No way,” Dean said, standing too. Sam sighed. He knew the car meant a lot to Dean but he was hardly going to drive it of a cliff.

“Look, I’ve made a mistake and I need to talk to Gabriel. I’ll only be a few days.”

“Then I’ll drive you,” Dean said with an easy shrug. “Nobody drives baby but me.”

“Really not planning on having the kind of conversation you take your brother along for.”

“Take my car, Sam,” Castiel said, standing up and moving to retrieve the keys. Sam nodded then ran upstairs and threw a few changes of clothes into a bag. Maybe this was insane, but he needed to try. Maybe, just maybe, he could have this.

Castiel met him at the door, handed over the key and wished him luck, then he was on the road again.

~*~*~*~

He arrived at the flats about an hour before Gabriel was due home from work. He tried knocking on his door anyway but nobody answered. That left him with two options. He could sit here on Gabriel’s doorstep like a lovestruck teenager or he could walk to the chocolate shop and find him.

The only problem with that was he’d never been to the chocolate shop. There was never any need when he was busy all day working and he knew Gabriel would come to him in the evening. Maybe he could hardly be surprised that Gabriel hadn’t shown his interest, Sam had hardly been walking around with his heart on his sleeve. In fact, he’d actively been trying to hide his attraction.

Still, it was a small town so he decided to risk it. He did, of course, got lost within five minutes but a very nice elderly couple pointed the way for him.

He guessed he’d have found it eventually anyway because, from the outside, there was no way you could mistake it for anyone other than Gabriel’s shop. The entire front was painted with multi-coloured polka-dots. There was an awning at the front which looked like a rainbow and chairs and tables which had the same haphazard colour scheme as the rest of the thing, closed of in a small courtyard.

As he approached he started to worry. Maybe he should have stayed back at the flat? Maybe he was wrong about all this and he was about to make it horribly awkward by making Gabriel reject him in front of other people. But he wanted to see Gabriel, wanted to see him right now. He had missed him over the past week. He kind of wanted to know, too. He’d always been a little headstrong, he just wanted to find out if he was right.

The inside of the shop matched the outside. A few more tables, polka-dots on the walls and large glass display cases, almost empty now but with a few chocolates still out.

“Hey, can I help you?” the girl behind the counter asked. He looked at her and smiled awkwardly.

“Erm, yeah, actually. I’m looking for Gabriel?”

She blinked at him for a few seconds, looking him up and down and he wondered if there was secretly another chocolatier who thought this paint pattern would work in this town and, if so, if he and Gabriel would have some kind of rivalry.

“You’re...you’re not Sam, are you?” she asked, looking at him as though she expected a name badge to appear.

“Yeah, I guess,” Sam said. “I mean, I am Sam. I guess I’m the Sam you mean.”

“Well, thank god. We thought you guys broke up or something. He’s been in a horrible mood all week and he just stopped mentioning you. You didn’t break up, right?”

“No,” Sam replied, and it was the truth since they never dated. “I’ve just been away.”

“Oh, that’ll explain it,” the girl said with a relieved grin. “Let me fetch him for you. He’ll be so glad to see you!”

She disappeared off into the back of the shop and his stomach resumed tying itself in knots. What if he was wrong. He’d basically just told that girl they were dating, he was going to look like a complete idiot if he was wrong. And it wasn’t like he could just drive away and never see them again.His brother was dating Gabriel’s brother.

This was such a mess.

Before he could talk himself out of the entire thing, Gabriel came rushing out of the back room. He’d obviously been in the middle of something because his hair was sticking up at odd angles, there was a ridiculous hat on his head, he was wearing a white apron with a variety of exciting stains and he had a large smear of chocolate across his cheek. Sam wished he could reach over and lick it of.

“It is you,” Gabriel said, looking Sam over as though he expected him to change in to someone else. “What are you doing here? Need a new novel idea?”

“No,” Sam replied, flushing. “I came back to talk to you. Is this a bad time?”

“Not really,” Gabriel mumbled, stepping round the counter. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

“You never told me you were gay!”

It wasn’t what he’d meant to say, definitely not in that tone or almost betrayal, and he felt himself blush almost as soon as the world left his lips. Gabriel raised an eyebrow and then started to chuckle softly.

“Sammy, you never asked.”

“I was trying to focus on work!” Sam defended, scowling. “I know I should have asked but...you never said.”

“Why would I say anything?” Gabriel asked with a shrug. “I’m like ten years older than you, about twice as insane. All my money’s tied up in buying out this stupid chocolate shop from my ex who moved to France to get away from me so is a shining example of why nobody would ever want a relationship with me. You’re young, smart and damn sexy. I’m not an idiot, why bother when I’m just going to get rejected?”

“I’m not going to reject you.”

“Sam...”

“No, all of that is stupid. I...I know I should have paid more attention but I didn’t want to get involved. I was stupid and I thought I could just be here and write a novel then go home but then you started turning up in my flat and you brought me sweets and, well, I’ve missed you every day since I left. I know I should have said something before but I hope I’m not too late.”

“Never too late, Sammy,” Gabriel replied. He looked almost as though he couldn’t believe his luck, a little awe struck. He reached out and Sam went, pulling Gabriel into his arms and it was as perfect as the night he finished his book. He should have done this then. Should have lent down that night and kissed Gabriel. He wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.

He lent down and kissed Gabriel.

7\. Final draft

Sam turned the book over in his hands again. He could hardly believe it was real. Months of edits and arguments and long drives between his brother and Gabriel and now, finally, he stood here in Barnes and Nobel with a copy of his book in his hand.

“I wouldn’t buy that,” a voice behind him said. “I hear the author stole his ideas.”

“Shut up Gabriel,” Sam said calmly. “You’re meant to be encouraging people to buy this, you know.”

“I guess I should, since we’re in this together now,” the other man said, taking the book from Sam’s hands. It had been surprisingly easy to convince Gabriel to sell the business and move to South Dakota. The actual practical aspect had been harder to pull of but they’d eventually found a buyer at one end and a replacement store at the other, not to mention a flat that was just theirs away from Cas and Dean. Gabriel had immediately painted everything in his usual fashion and Sam found out he didn’t even mind.

“Yep, it’s that book that’s keeping you in chocolate,” he reminded him playfully, which wasn’t strictly true as Gabriel’s business had always had a strong online presence that was still with him. It would probably still be a few years until he was making a decent steady profit in his new location but Sam didn’t mind. They were in this together.

He’d never had a relationship like Gabriel before. It wasn’t that they didn’t argue, because they did. They weren’t perfect but they worked and he had never been happier.

Gabriel flicked open the cover of the book, pausing for a second to run his finger over the dedication.

“You are the biggest marshmallow on the planet, you know.” he commented.

“I know,” Sam agreed. “But you’re stuck with me now.”

“Guess I am,” Gabriel agreed, reaching up for a kiss. As they parted Sam looked down and read the dedication.

_To Gabriel, for bringing me chocolate and for loving me._


End file.
